A FOCUS on creativity has become the latest technique to tackle youth drug and alcohol issues within the Wagga community.
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A series of art workshops are set to be launched this month through the local Community Drug Action Team, giving the city's youth a new outlet for expression.
CDAT member and Wagga artist Sheree Ridley will be running the classes, and said the program would be a balance of freedom to create and education on positive life choices.
"Research tells us that drug and alcohol use stems from a way of coping with life and emotional pain, so art offers an alternative way to express one's self creatively, rather than destructively," she said.
"We know art is not a magical solution to drug and alcohol issues, however it is a really good strategy to have in your toolkit for resilience."
The program will run out of the Tolland Community Centre on Bruce Street, with hopes of expanding to Ashmont.
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Miss Ridley said people aged between 12-16 were welcome, with a restriction of 10 people in a class.
Wagga's CDAT chairman Phillip Pye said he hoped to give young people a sense of inclusion in Wagga.
"With drug and alcohol issues comes a range of other problems, and one of those is a feeling of exclusion," he said.
"With young people, there is a moratorium of excuses as to why they don't fit in, but art is a way of bringing people together and using creativity to foster inclusion, which can be very therapeutic."
CDATs exist across the state, comprised of volunteers from all walks of life with a single focus - to curb drug and alcohol related issues in the community.